Cang Lan Dao - Chapter 29.2

Chapter 29.2
Xie Heng and Li Guiyu’s alliance, kill him —

The small building was exceptionally conspicuous in the darkness, brightly lit, and isolated from the torture room in the distance.

“The core of the Inspection Department are all in the underground palace. This building is the Zhenbao Building.” Cui Heng said while stepping forward to push open the door before him. The door opened, and Luo Wanqing saw the room filled with concealed weapons.

Cui Heng looked back and raised his hand to invite her, “Come in and take a look.”

Luo Wanqing entered the room. Cui Heng followed behind her and introduced, “The first floor of the Zhenbao Building contained concealed weapons; the Inspection Department collected all the world’s concealed weapons; what you have seen, or you have not seen are all here, you need to understand these concealed weapons in general, disassembly, assembly, how to avoid, how to use.” Cui Heng picked up a piece of wood on the desk, saying, “The Inspection Department has selected the most practical concealed weapons to be reformed and mass-produced; this is called the Thousand Machines.” He lifted the piece of wood and pointed it towards the target on the wall, lifting his hand and pressing it. That piece of wood instantly shot out densely packed fine needles toward the wall.

The sound startled Luo Wanqing, and Cui Heng laughed, “This is a modified version of the Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needle, which can change into various shapes, is extremely easy to hide, and shoots extremely fast. At its back are blades of various sizes, suitable for your various needs on different occasions.” Cui Heng turned that piece of wood over and pressed it again, revealing various blades from the bottom.

After letting Luo Wanqing see the blades, Cui Heng closed it. He took other material on the table and began assembling it, saying, “This thing can turn into a crossbow or a bow, a stick or a whip. You can explore its various uses.”

Luo Wanqing watched as these materials kept changing in Cui Heng’s hands, and in the end, Cui Heng took a set of jewelry, a wooden hairpin, a string of Buddha beads, and a waist chain. He held the wooden hairpin and beckoned towards Luo Wanqing, “Come here.”

Luo Wanqing hesitantly walked to Cui Heng. He took the wooden hairpin, raised his hand, inserted it into Luo Wanqing’s hair, and said gently, “You are a woman; these killing weapons, you can keep on your body as jewelry.” He pulled over Luo Wanqing’s hand.

Luo Wanqing lowered her eyes and saw him wrapping the sandalwood Buddha bracelet around her wrist.

Cui Heng wrapped the bracelet for her on one side and said softly, “But be careful; it’s normally poisonous. This weapon is the weapon that every Agent must carry; this set is not poisonous; starting tomorrow, you can learn how to familiarize yourself with using it.”

Luo Wanqing raised her eyes to look at him. Cui Heng placed the waist chain in her hand and smiled, “Do you want me to help you wear the waist chain?”

“No need.” Luo Wanqing shook her head; Cui Heng sighed regretfully: “My Agent is indifferent, not even giving this subordinate a chance to serve.”

Luo Wanqing knew he was joking again, so she didn’t say much. She remembered when he skillfully used the hidden weapon called ‘Thousand Machines,’ and the Agent usually uses this hidden weapon; she couldn’t help but wonder, “Guanlan.”

“En?”

“Have you always been a Shadow?”

“En?” Cui Heng was puzzled and turned her head to look at her, “Why do you say that?”

“You could single-handedly fight off thirty-two experts of the Tian Ji Pavilion, so your martial arts should be powerful. You know so many other things only to be a Shadow?”

“Yeah.” Cui Heng casually said, “It’s not like an Agent is a good job. I’m not too fond of hard work. Killing people hurts my brain; torturing people is sinful; you guys can do this.”

“Then what do you like to do?” Luo Wanqing was curious.

“Me?” Cui Heng thought momentarily, turned his head to look at her, and joked, “I like lighting lamps and feeding candies to beauties the most.”

“That would be difficult for you,” Luo Wanqing said. She followed him through the first story of concealed weapons and walked upstairs, her face showing regret. “With this face, I can’t be considered a beauty.”

“Beauty is in the bone, not the skin, a face only; you can find Zhong Lao, and he can give you any face you want. But this beauty bone of yours,” Cui Heng stopped, turned his head, and swept a glance from top to bottom, smiling, “It’s me who molded it a little by little.”

For some reason, hearing this, Luo Wanqing suddenly had so many subtle feelings rising. She raised her eyes to look at him, the youth slightly bent down, came to her ear, and whispered, “If you say it’s not beautiful, I’ll be unhappy.”

Luo Wanqing didn’t say anything. She lowered her eyes to hide the little flutter that Cui Heng had brought about.

Cui Heng smiled and said happily, “Let’s go. There are machines, formations, all current secret language that the Inspection Department has included, poisons, and parasites up there. You stroll around first, and we’ll learn it slowly in the future.” Cui Heng said, leading her around the Zhenbao Building.

After that, Cui Heng led Luo Wanqing to stroll around the entire Inspection Department to acknowledge Qing Ya, Xuan Shan, Zhu Que, and the others.

When they finished, it was almost dark. Cui Heng looked at the sky, carrying a lamp to send Luo Wanqing back to her room. He softly said at the door of her room, “It’s already late; your body is still recovering; you need to rest well; the night is deep, and the dew is heavy; don’t travel casually.”

As Luo Wanqing listened to his words, she felt that there was something in his words. Cui Heng’s face was sincere. He pointed to the room beside hers and said, “I’ll stay here. If something happens, you can call me at any time.”

Luo Wanqing nodded, so Cui Heng said, “I’ll ask the maid to prepare hot water for you.” With that, Cui Heng turned to leave with his lamp.

As Luo Wanqing watched him walk out the door, her complexion lightened. Carrying her steps into the house, she walked while thinking about Cui Heng’s words during the day. On this day in the Inspection Department, she almost knew what kind of place the Inspection Department was.

The Inspection Department is the Eagle of the Son of Heaven, supervising all the officials and controlling the world’s crime. However, the Inspection Department means cruelty; Xie Heng is cold and violent, treating others like dogs and pigs. It was hard for her to say whether the Inspection Department was good or bad, but she confirmed that no high-ranking officials were willing to keep it in this world. Therefore, when Xie Heng created the Inspection Department, the Xie family deprived him of his inheritance rights and removed him from the family. She once asked Zhang Jiuran in prison why Xie Heng had the consent of the officials when he built the Inspection Department; Zhang Jiuran said it was because of the noble status, but now look, where is the noble status?

Luo Wanqing remembered that human skin and could not help but want to vomit but clearly understood that this Inspection Department was Xie Heng’s bloody path. Use extraordinary means to scare extraordinary people. It is difficult for her to evaluate whether Xie Heng is good or bad. In order to build the Inspection Department, the Xie Family disowned him. The Inspection Department has vindicated a lot of wrongful cases and indeed also deterred a lot of high-ranking officials. Still, he also had The Inspection Department’s power that solely belongs to him and does not need to be subjected to anyone’s constraints. If he built the Inspection Department for power, this person’s demand for dominion is far beyond the norm.

Thinking of what they said yesterday about Xie Heng being concerned about the Luo family and wanting to overturn the case for her family, she had tried to believe it. However, after seeing today’s Inspection Department, she felt that with a heart like Xie Heng’s, he probably built the Inspection Department only for power. Otherwise, will there be such a saint who will give up all the future to create the Inspection Department and protect the people? And would such a saint could do something like peeling off human skin to deter others?

Luo Wanqing could not imagine. She felt it seemed easier if everything was motivated by an extreme thirst for power. For the sake of dominion, not to be suppressed by the Xie Family’s power, he gave up his identity as an Xie family member and established the Inspection Department, becoming one person under ten thousand. The so-called justice is just a chess piece of his, and his concern about her family’s case should also be an attempt to use this case as a chess piece to checkmate Li Guiyu and Zheng Clan.

In the last life in the dream, he allied with Li Guiyu, so she, the chess piece, was no longer helpful and was already rotting in Lingnan. Otherwise, if he had been concerned about the Luo family from the beginning, how could he have allied with a villain like Li Guiyu, and how could he have let the Luo Wanqing in the dream die in Lingnan?

Luo Wanqing closed her eyes, feeling an abnormal calmness permeating her heart. Thinking of how her family members from her previous life died tragically one by one on the road to exile in her dream, she immediately felt her blood stirring as she opened her eyes and poured herself a cup of water, pondering over her current situation. According to Zhang Jiuran, her family was in the hands of the Xiang Sizi. She had killed Zhao Yuyan; it was logical that Xiang Sizi should have come to find her, but why was there no movement at all? Because the time was too short, or because she was in the Inspection Department?

Once Luo Wanqing thought about it, she knew she had to leave the Inspection Department for a while. Cui Heng had been following her, and Xiang Sizi might not dare approach her. She had to go out alone today. She remembered that she still had a horse staying at the medical center.

Last night, when she sent Zhang Jiuran to the medical center, she used the Inspection Department’s horse as a pawn. Qin Jue was now under the watchful eyes, and if she asked him to pick up Zhang Jiuran, they would surely know about it but wouldn’t be able to confirm Zhang Jiuran’s identity. But if she let the Inspection Department visit this medical center to ransom the horse, connecting her to Zhang Jiuran would be easy. It would be better for her to go and pull the horse back secretly by herself. Having thought this way, she made her decision.

After waiting for the maid to attend to her and freshen up, she pretended to sleep. When it was late at night, she changed into a nighttime outfit, opened the window, looked at the surrounding area, confirmed the location of the guards, and then carefully sneaked out of the Inspection Department.

She went straight to the medical center once she was out of the Inspection Department. Only halfway there, she heard a childish voice from behind her: “Miss Luo.”

Luo Wanqing’s movements stopped. She turned back and saw a girl who looked only eight or nine years old standing not far away, respectfully saying, “My master wants to invite you.”